Motorola Has Profit Surprise and Forecasts More to Come

REUTERS

Friday

Oct 30, 2009 at 5:10 AM

The cellphone maker said it would sell fewer phones this quarter as it focused on more expensive smartphones over mass-market phones.

Motorola has forecast a higher-than-expected profit for the current quarter as it begins to sell two phones based on the Android software by Google in a bid to regain ground lost to the iPhone by Apple.

After surprising Wall Street with a third-quarter profit on Thursday, Motorola forecast fourth-quarter operating earnings of 7 to 9 cents a share, compared with the average analyst estimate of 6 cents.

Analysts were quick to point out that Motorola had yet to prove that its phones could be popular again, but said results so far indicated that Sanjay K. Jha, its co-chief executive, would make sure the company delivered.

Motorola posted a third-quarter profit of $12 million, or 1 cent a share, compared with a loss of $397 million, or 18 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, the profit was 2 cents a share, compared with the average analyst expectation that it would break even, according to Thomson Reuters.